The Register readers are IT professionals - software engineers, database administrators, sysadmins, networking managers, project managers, all the way up to CIOs. Many more are senior business professionals, marketing managers, CEOs, CFOs and procurement directors. Almost half a million Register readers work in the financial sector.

Hundreds of thousands of readers are working on the next generation of smart cars and fuels, engines and the roads that they'll rely on. Tens of thousands are working in the global aerospace industry. Almost half a million readers work in central and local government.

You may not inhabit their world, but they inhabit yours in an increasing number of ways. They are the technologists, the decision makers, the innovators the engine room of the world that powers your likes, dislikes, your music and your pictures, your tweets and shares.

Some are making clouds. Some are fighting cyber-wars, some are turning data into decisions that save lives. Some are running your utilities. Some are colliding atoms in the Large Hadron Collider.

And let's not forget one reader who keeps the IT network running at the South Pole, so the scientists can share their data, and keep in touch with their families. The many faces, attitudes, skills, ambitions and powers of the technology industry are represented across The Register.